Realistically, James and Lily
by sunkissedbubbletea
Summary: She’s ginger, average height, and freckled, with a mind which can work faster than anybody her age. He’s taller, with stupid looking glasses, and a smile which could charm a real life dragon. They kind of work together, after a while. This is realistically, James and Lily.
1. A goodbye, a hello, and in between.

"We'll see you at Christmas, or half term if we can figure that out," Lily's mother fussed, kissing her on the forehead lightly, in case her gaudy red lipstick would smudge.

"We always miss you when you're at school Lils," her dad added in helpfully, pulling her in for a hug from the side, while also looking around at all the other parents who were in the same position with their children.

They mirrored nearly all of the other couples, dropping off their children for the first or last time, with the exception of one thing- the girl standing behind them with a scowl which could scare off even the fiercest of brutes. She crossed her arms, and pursed her lips.

"Oh you look like you've swallowed a lemon, do say goodbye to your sister! We're even taking you to see your boyfriend like you asked!" Lily's mum looked towards the taller girl, and she sighed and pursed her lips even more (which made her look stupid, in Lily's opinion).

She pushed her golden blonde, only nearly orange hair behind her shoulders and looked down into Lily's general direction. "Bye freak, don't get any freakier," she said almost curtly, but gave her a wicked grin, showing she meant no harm (mostly).

Lily's family was quite average, compared to some of the families on the platform.

When she was younger, she'd always be quite proud to have what her friends would call 'cool' parents. Her mother was lean, with gorgeous ginger hair, and she had even gone into modelling when she was younger, while her dad was an engineer, working on rockets and planes, and on his off days going to queen concerts and mosh pits.

But right now, her parents were the epitome of uncool, unknowing, and completely clueless in this new world which only she belonged in. She used to try to explain stuff to them, especially to Tuney, but they didn't seem to care, except for her dad wanting to know how the brooms _flew_ in Hogwarts.

It felt awkward and clunky to try and bring her parents into the life she had almost left behind for the summer. Not being able to practice magic, she became an average girl again who could go to the library and buy clothes with her sister again (not that she ever enjoyed it, she would complain when Tuney would go through the same sale rack twice 'just in case she missed anything').

"I love you all," Lily tried to smile, but ended up looking down at the cuffs of her jeans, and flexing her toes inside her black boots, "I'll miss you."

Before Lily could add to her statement, Petunia scoffed and said, "wish I could say the same for you," after a jab in the ribs from her dad, she let out a strained " _but_ , you know we'll miss you too."

They both tentatively smiled at each other, and before they could revel in the moment of there not being an argument between them, their dad commented, "this would be the part where your mum calls for a group hug," with a wry grin.

"We are not doing that!" Petunia gasped, and Lily added, " _Mum_ , that's so embarrassing!"

"I wouldn't!" Mrs. Evans gave Mr. Evans a steely glare, and the brave man just chuckled. Lily, absolutely terrified that her mum would follow through with her dad's plan still, quickly picked up her bags and began to leave.

"Yes, I'll stay safe, etcetera, etcetera," Lily said while walking towards one of the entrances to the train. She passed her bag to her dad, and then stepped onto the train, and he passed it back to her. They had always done it that way, even though Lily now was stronger than her 11 year old self, and could carry her case onto the train herself.

"We don't even have to ask you if you'll stay safe, you're too good!" Her dad said humorously, "the only thing you've ever done to break the rules is wear those boots, which you've spent half the summer worrying about if they would pass for regulation or not!"

Lily let out a giggle at her dad's statement, it was just too true. She took pride in it though, being good, honest, and proud was basically her house's description. She waved her dad off happily, and went to sit in a carriage which was free, which happened to be the next one down.

She looked out through the window, seeing her family in deep conversation without her, and couldn't help a sense of longing which came over her. They looked right- usual- together, all so tall (unlike her) and good-looking, her dad returned to them and his arm slid around his wife's waist and Tuney was exaggeratedly pointing to the way out, Lily could almost her hear her saying:

"If we don't get out now, we won't get out for ages because then everyone will be trying to leave!" But she knew her parents would never want to leave without seeing the train set off, it was almost an unsaid rule that they never left before the train left the station.

She pulled a book out of the top of her case, and then shoved it into the overhead compartment, and fell down onto the leather seat with a sigh. It felt like a return to normalcy, she could almost feel the magic in the air (or the sweat of prepubescent teens, but whatever).

Before she could open the book, however, she heard a knock at the door, and she looked over to see the pointy face of her friend Severus. She gave him a soft smile, eyes widening in delight, and moved her hands in a motion to come in.

At least that's what it seemed like to him, but honestly, she almost couldn't wait until they got to school, and they would only really see each other in lessons. She liked Severus, _as a friend_ , and that entire summer, she had gotten the slight idea that he liked her much more than she liked him. It grated on her nerves.

Every second day, he would come over and knock on her door, asking if she wanted to go on a walk with him. In first and second year, it had been cute and well received, they would go walking around the lake which was a ten minute walk from their houses (which were very close together).

He had grown up with magic, and she hadn't, so he would always show her little tricks and magical objects which really would make her eyes light up, and her smile grow. But that quickly became old, and even her parents agreed that he was coming to see her too much.

She wanted to study! Go swimming! Spend time with her sister! Sleep! Not go on the same walk she had been going on since she was about 9, and her parents would let her go out on her own.

"Lily," he put his bag away while speaking to her, "I thought we were getting a ride to the train station together this year." He had such a soft spoken manner she couldn't help but stammer out an apology she didn't exactly mean.

"I-I thought you would be coming here the magical way," she smiled ruefully, knowing she definitely did not think that.

"Well, there's no harm in it, because that's what I did in the end, we were running late." And with his returning smile, she knew she was forgiven.

"Are you excited to be going back? I am, I feel like I was going crazy not being able to do magic all summer." Lily answered her own question in excitement.

"I practiced a little bit of potions work over summer," he admitted, "my grandmother was doing some, so she let me help." Lily had met his grandmother once, when the older, frail looking woman had come out to tell him to come in when his parents wanted him, and she had acted like Lily didn't exist, which Lily felt was a bit rude.

Still, she couldn't help thinking that potions work was a more productive way she could have spent her summer, instead of those dreaded _walks_ around the lake. "I'm jealous! I think my family would lose it if I started doing any potions inside the house, especially Tuney."

His nose wrinkled at the thought of her older sister (which made her happier than she would admit, she always felt like the second choice compared to the taller, blonder girl). "I think she'd call an exorcist on you." He joked softly, which Lily had almost taken the wrong way before she realised _it was a joke_ , and giggled at it.

He paused and said to her, "you know she's just jealous, right?" Lily smiled down at her boots, knowing he was wrong about this.

"No, she's not. She thinks it's-" she thought about rephrasing it, but didn't bother, "unnatural." Before she could start to explain, three boys came crashing into the the compartment. She saw Severus's nose twist again, but before he could say anything to the intruders, they began to speak to Lily, completely ignoring him.

It was James, Sirius and Peter. They were three boys in her year who, with another boy (Remus), called themselves the Maurauders. Honestly, she thought it was a little bit embarrassing- who has a name for their friendship group, except for 7 year olds? She didn't exactly call herself and Severus the ' _Dynamic Duo_ ' or anything ridiculous like that.

"Is that your parents and sister out there?" Sirius asked foregoing pleasantries, pointing towards her family, and Lily's brows drew together in confusion.

"Yeah," she uttered, and shared a glance with Severus, which seemed to say ' _what the heck are they doing here?_ '

"I can tell, your mum has the same hair as you!" Peter added on, with a childlike sense of righteousness about him, like he had just solved a great mystery. Lily spared him a smile- he was kind of sweet if you got past the constant chewing, usually with his mouth open.

"She's kind of fit, for an older woman," Sirius added on, and Lily began to splutter. Whatever nice, kind feelings she had begun to feel fell away instantly. He was talking about her mum!

"I see where you get it from," James added on, speaking for the first time. Lily spluttered into silence, and stared at him. He hasn't changed much over summer, still the annoying chimp-like creature he had always been, unlike his friends Peter and Sirius.

Peter had gotten braces! She hadn't realised he even knew they existed, but his teeth looked a bit less ragged than before (but only a bit, it had only been summer after all). And Sirius had lost all of his baby fat! Ok, he hadn't had much in the first place, but whatever he did have was completely gone, his face now looked slim and chiselled when before it had looked more soft.

Lily was still looking at the three in pure disbelief, did they _actually_ just barge in there and talk about her mother like that?

The loud blast which meant the train was starting soon brought her back to reality, and she quickly said, "don't talk about my mum like that, just go away!"

"Come on Lils, we weren't saying anything mean," her parent's nickname sounded wrong coming from Sirius' mouth and she felt herself get angry, feeling a furious flush crawl up her cheeks as their words sunk in properly. James indirectly called her fit, but he had also directly called her mum fit.

"Didn't you hear her? Get out." Serverus's voice gained a hard edge that she only heard when these boys were around, because she was usually used to the little boy who would share his books with her, and teach her patiently. However, right then she didn't mind the change in personality, as long as it would get the awful boys out of her carriage. They quickly scampered off, but not before James got the last word in:

"Nice to see you too, _Snivellus_." They all cackled childishly after they heard the nickname out loud, and the doors shut with a loud clang, leaving Lily and Severus in near equal states of anger. Her flush went down slightly and she felt herself relax in the silence which arrived when the boys left. What was nice with Severus, she thought, was that they could sit in silence and it wouldn't be awkward, and they could just think.

"I hate them." She had thought too soon, Severus had started speaking with his bitter, cruel tone which was reserved for the Marauders, "what sort of prick barges into someone else's space, then proceeds to talk about their parents like that? If they had done that to me, I would have hexed them, or told a teacher, like Slughorn."

Lily shook her head, "they don't need to get into trouble over something small like this, they'll get into trouble anyways." She tried to smile at him, but that only made him angrier, maybe out of protectiveness for the girl.

"They'd deserve it, Lily." Lily decided not to reply to that, instead staring out of the window at the countryside rushing by, signifying that the conversation was over. She watched the hills rise and fall beside them, rolling like the sea, and felt a sense of serenity, the sort of serenity which could only be achieved by someone who was going back to the school she loved, with her best friend who she (mostly) loved.

* * *

Lily wasn't _unpopular,_ per se, she just didn't have many friends.

The girls she shared her dorm with were _nice_ , they just didn't have anything in common, and they had never really bonded before. Mary McDonald, Dorcas Meadowes, Alice Longbottom, Hestia Jones and Marlene McKinnon had all slept in the same dorm as her for three years, but they had never talked to Lily past the barriers of pleasant small talk. Lily didn't mind it exactly, because she was more interested in her books and learning, but it just made her feel a little bit left out.

She sat at the edge of the little group on the night of the Welcome Feast, next to Dorcas Meadowes, who had always been particularly kind to Lily, always sensitive to never leave her out. "I'm so excited for care of magical creatures!" She enthused to the other four, and they all replied with varying levels of agreement: going from "Me too! My cousin told me we learn about unicorns, and I didn't know they actually exist!" to "I'm so glad I dropped that."

"Lily, what electives are you taking?" Dorcas asked her without hesitation, and Lily smiled ruefully, almost scared of their reaction.

"Uh, all of them except muggle studies?" It sounded like a question but it definitely wasn't. She had found it so difficult to just stop learning about a certain bit of magic, just because it was an elective, so after lots of debating with her parents, then the teachers, it was decided that she would be taking all which were useful to her: Arithmacy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Ancient Runes, and not Muggle Studies (she didn't really need the last one). The teachers she had talked to about it had told her not to worry if she wished to drop an elective, so she wasn't too stressed about it yet.

"All of them!" Hestia repeated in half-awe half-jealousy, leaning forwards unconsciously.

"You're mad," Mary had added, with a snort, "that will be the worst workload of your life."

"How would you even have the time?" Marlene asked.

"At least we can always ask you if we can copy your homework," Dorcas added with an easy laugh. Lily frowned for a moment, they couldn't just copy her homework! Especially if they weren't even friends!

She quickly realised that Dorcas hadn't meant it in a bad way, and she didn't even realise that her comment could be seen as taking advantage of Lily, and Lily felt guilty for thinking badly of the kind hearted girl.

She laughed in response, and then Mary asked her another question, "you're muggle born aren't you- why would you need Muggle Studies? I would have taken it, it would be an easy O!" She sounded excited about it for a second, before adding the next thought in a damper tone, "but my parents told me not to."

"My parents said the same! But I was taking the other four, so it just felt right to do muggle studies too. I have to do all my studying from the textbook, and don't actually need to go to lessons, which works out fine for me." Lily tried to explain, but it just sounded more complicated.

"Do we even care?" Alice Longbottom cut in, and Lily frowned. _She cared_. "First day back at school, and we're talking about school! Let's talk about something more interesting."

It was kind of rude of her to cut in, Lily thought, but the other girls just seemed used to it. "Well, we've already talked about our hols," Marlene retorted.

"You all know about my summer of hell at my cousins, but we haven't heard about Lily's!" Alice countered, and Lily felt herself freeze. She had just stayed at home all summer, and had a good time doing nothing, but she felt like that wouldn't be good enough compared to her dorm mates Gryffindor adventures. Why were they asking her anyways?

Dorcas turned to Lily, "Here's the rundown: Mary went sailing with some fit Irish bloke; Marlene went to France, watched some muggle bike race; Hestia went and did a summer placement at some odd magic library-"

"Hey! That's one of the biggest magician libraries in Britain, and they usually only take fifth year upwards!" Hestia butted in with a grin, only slightly showing off.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. I went to help the war efforts in York, with my dad." Lily gave Dorcas an amazed look- she was a 14 year old saint! Which teenager went to go help people who were affected by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named instead of spending a summer off relaxing by the pool?

"We, uh, lost mum to the cause last year. How was your summer?" Dorcas quickly explained, and completely glossed over the fact that her mum was dead, and for a second it flew over Lily's head. She thought for a second, and her mouth formed an 'o', everything made sense about her behaviour last Halloween, and how she hadn't returned with everyone else after the half term.

How did she just act like it didn't affect her like that? Either way, Lily realised she didn't want to talk about it, and quickly went, "I went to France too!"

She had lied. She didn't even know why! It wasn't that big of a deal that she stayed at home, and went on walks with Severus, and helped around the house with her mum. But she had felt pressured to say something just as exciting as the rest of them.

"Really! Where?" Marlene asked her curiously.

"Uh, Paris." Lily felt the hole she dug herself into get deeper.

"I was there too! You should have told me before summer, we could have met up!" Neither of them mentioned how awkward that would have been.

Instead Lily tittered awkwardly, and went, "Yeah, I should have." She didn't say a word more about her summer in Paris, in fear they would figure her out.

There was an awkward silence, before Alice turned to Lily, face dropping a little bit, "I'm going to be honest here," she shook her head at the other girls' panicked expressions, "we want to be your friend! We always see you going off with that sulky Slytherin, and he always gives us the dirtiest look, like we've abandoned you. We decided at the end of term last year that we'd make more of an effort with you, because we always just assumed you were happier with your books."

Lily almost snorted, despite the slightly serious situation she was in. She _was_ happier with her books. But she was also kind of happy that they'd want to talk to her.

"But you do seem nice! Just quiet. We'd like to talk to you more, and eventually become friends!" Dorcas added, softer and kinder than Alice's blunt approach to the situation. Lily, despite knowing that she was being babied a little, smiled at them.

"I think, I'd like that." Lily took the gesture of friendship with a smile, and couldn't help hoping that it would stick, and they would all become proper friends.

"Good, because we're determined this year! We're going to become _best friends_!" It was beginning to sound a little ominous, Mary said it forcefully as if wishing it to come true from brute force.

"Don't scare her off," Hestia warned with a smirk, and Lily couldn't help but make relieved eye contact with her.

"I quite like my books, though," Lily admitted cautiously. She didn't want them to think she was a _nerd,_ but they didn't take it that way at all, instead all of them bursting into laughter at the same time.

"I think we've noticed, love!" Hestia laughed the loudest, and Lily felt a flush creep up her neck for the second time in the day.

"Seriously. You read a book while brushing your teeth." Alice confirmed, and they all laughed louder if it was possible. Lily would have face planted the table, if there wasn't a bowl of soup in the way.

"I like reading! Don't hate!" Lily protested weakly, a grin fighting it's way onto her face no matter how much she didn't want to encourage them.

"We're not hating, dear Hestia spent an entire summer stuck with thousands of books, she's just not as much of a nerd as you are!" Alice retorted, not unkindly.

"To be fair, Hestia sid have a little friend who visited the library _quite often_ , so she wouldn't get bored!" Mary gossiped, and all eyes turned to her. She giggled in the spotlight, and pointed towards Hestia.

"Mary! You said you wouldn't tell!" Hestia hissed, but Mary just put her hands up in a surrender and grinned innocently.

"They forced it out of me!"

"They literally didn't. You said that all on your own." Hestia deadpanned, trying to fight a laugh at her blatant lie.

"Anyways, now Hestia has to tell us all the _full_ story of her new love interest. There's only so much a letter can tell a girl, after all!" Mary grinned, and despite herself, Lily was already interested.

The day before, Lily had been ready to subject herself to a year of awkwardly standing on the sidelines of their group, telling herself that she didn't need friends to have fun at school. But now, sitting with them all and having a laugh, even at their own expenses, really didn't seem so bad.

Before long, they were all immersed in a conversation, Dorcas constantly asking Lily what she thought, or if she agreed. Lily didn't even mind it, or find it annoying- it made her feel kind of important. She hadn't even glanced over at Severus in longing once, like she had done every year since they had been seperated into different houses.

"Hey Lily," she heard, and swivelled around in her seat to see the 'Maurauders' standing in front of her, Remus standing in front of them all, the main speaker. "We just want to apologise for their behaviour on the train, I would have told them their comments were out of line if I had been there."

Lily nodded at him, kind of relived that he had come to apologise for them. It's not like James or Sirius would, but it meant a lot that they would stand there and at least show some repentance, even if it was out of awkwardness rather than sincerity, judging by their faces.

Peter was oblivious, chewing on some bread. Lily decided it didn't matter too much and gave Remus a smile, showing that all was already forgiven, "thank you, that means a lot." She nodded at him, and he nodded back and their smiles became more toothy.

"We should go," James broke through the silence before it could become too awkward, and Lily just nodded at him. It seemed he didn't really care about apologising, and neither did Sirius, but did it to appease Remus.

"Bye Lily," Peter exclaimed with bread in his teeth, and Lily winced and gave him a wave as they all trotted off back to the other end of the table.

"Uh, what just happened there?" Marlene asked, as soon as they had cleared off.

"I don't really understand," Lily started off pensively, "on the train, Sirius called my mum fit, and then James agreed, and I told them to get out. That's pretty normal James and Sirius behaviour."

Alice barked out a laugh, but quickly tried to stop herself before it became rude, "sorry, but that's so like Sirius!"

"Agreed." Giggled Mary.

"I don't know why Remus felt the need to apologise, they've probably done worse," Lily shrugged, "but it's not as if it's a bad thing that they apologised. I'm actually happier now."

"I think Remus was probably being kind," Dorcas supplied, and Lily smiled in agreement.

"I think they needed to apologise! You can't talk about someone's family like that," Hestia argued, and Lily found herself liking the girl more than she had for the last three years.

"It did make me angry," Lily admitted, "but I think now I can see the funny side of it now."

They all let out a train of giggles at the same time, and looked around at each other. Lily knew this was the beginning of a friendship for her.

 **I didn't know whether to put Hestia in a younger year or not! But, in the end I decided to put her in their year because it made the dorm a nice even number. I'm still not sure though! Agh, indecision. Almost put Molly in their year but quickly did the maths and realised she would have been much, much older LOL. Also with the whole doing all the subjects thing, let's just work with the idea that all subjects would be at a different time, and Lily wouldn't need a time turner.**

 **I'm not exactly sure why I've started something new, but whatever! This is going to be a bit different to the Jily stories you've read before, if I have anything to say about it, as I have a slightly different view on the couple (I hope I can get that across!) Fourth year is going to be done quickly, and establish the personality I see for Lily.**

 **I've always seen her as much more kind and mellow, more willing to help a fellow student than look down on them, but she'd also have strong resolutions and stick to them (due to being Gryffindor and all). Honestly, I'm worried I'll portray her differently to this, because it's so much easier to write an argumentative, easily riled up Lily to bounce off James' annoying personality, but I'll try my best not to due to my plans for the plot. I don't know if she sounds too young or childish in this chapter either, I just want it to seem very realistic, and the characters to seem much more human than just plot devices, or just 'the troublemaker' and 'the good girl'.**

 **This was supposed to be two chapters, but I thought I would turn it into a longer introduction chapter! Tell me what you think! I don't know whether to finish this, but I have so many ideas!**

 **-sunkissedbubbletea**


	2. Girls being girls, and studying

The girls of dormitory 4-A had found themselves lulled into an easy routine by the time school started. Lily would wake up first, and get in the shower first thing, waking Dorcas and Hestia up. They would wake Marlene and Mary, Marlene blearily getting into the shower after Lily and Mary staying in bed for another 20 minutes.

When Marlene would get out of the shower, they would all attempt to wake Alice up. It was honestly a scarring experience, especially for Mary who had once been shoved right into Hestia's outstretched wand. It had been pushed right into the flesh of her arm, and Mary and Marlene had both nearly retched at the sight.

They'd all hurriedly get ready, and walk down to breakfast together. Near the end of summer, Lily began to break their routine- she would go to the library as soon as she woke up (still taking the time to wake Dorcas and Hestia quietly, who were the least angry in the morning). She'd do this some mornings to ease her anxiety, she already felt so stressed with her enormous workload, even though it was just weeks into the year.

How would dishwashing be useful in her O.W.L.S? When she posed the question to her dorm mates, they had just laughed and told her O.W.L.S were ages away, and she didn't need to think about them yet. They were in less than two years!

By November 16th, she decided she was already losing it. Dorcas would try to lure her away from her studies, tempting her with kind words and promises of biscuits from home ("My mum baked them from scratch! Told me to share them with my _friends_!") and she would snap at her ("This is important!") and then she would feel bad ("I'm sorry, I will take a biscuit.").

Nobody else seemed to be in the same predicament of pure anxiety, even though they were barely a quarter of the material on the fourth year syllabus. Lily just wanted to learn everything early, and be prepared for her lessons, there was nothing wrong with her!

November 30th was when she realised she was getting obsessive. She would spend time in the library with Hestia and Marlene studying, and they'd always seem quite proud that they were doing work before it was due, so usually took that time to relax as well. Lily couldn't do the same!

It was almost compulsive, and she found herself become annoyed by the two girls sitting at the table but never working. One day, she watched Marlene flop forwards and complain, "I can't be bothered, end of years are ages away," with a huff, and snapped.

"If you two want to leave, you can," Lily would counter, almost wishing them to get up and walk out, and leave her to spread out her work. Sometimes she wished she could walk out, and leave all her research on the table for some first year to spill something on, but her sense of pride kept her there, slaving over her work.

To her surprise, Marlene and Hestia would seldom leave her on her own, even when she worked well into dinner. They worked in silence, most of the time, so Marlene would pull them out of their work mode to tell them she was going to dinner, and a few minutes later Hestia would pack up her things and wait for Lily to finish her work.

Marlene would have their seats saved when they walked in a little later than prompt, and Lily and Hestia would smile at her gratefully, and all would be forgiven for any ignorance of her comments during their time at the library (because they were too wrapped up in their work to listen in the first place).

October the 12th was one of the lucky days where the girls of dormitory 5-A would all get a seat together. They all chatted over each other, and Lily felt herself get swept away in their chatter without feeling the need to say anything.

It's not like she could say anything anyways, her brain was filled with useless information about Jimsonweed rather than normal everyday topics.

"How's studying going?" An odd question brought her out of her study induced haze, asked by Dorcas.

"You can see how well it's going just by looking at her face! She looks zonked out!" Alice laughed at her, and for once it felt malicious as her eyes went all squinty as they were trained on Lily.

Lily had just replied with a quiet, "it's fine." So Alice's loud, pitchy tones had smothered it, but Dorcas looked like she had heard it anyways so Lily just smiled at her.

"That's good," Dorcas replied, and the whole group became a bit quieter to listen to her continue, even Hestia and Mary stopping their bickering for a bit, "you've been studying a lot, haven't you?"

"Yeah?" Lily replied, confused, "you know I have a huge workload this year, I need all the time I can get." Dorcas smiled softly at her, trying to appease the slightly defensive note in her voice.

"Don't you think you've been working a bit too much? When's the last time you've seen Severus?" Dorcas inquired, and Lily felt well and truly trapped. Her sickly sweet tone paved way for true concern, and Lily couldn't help feeling the sudden burst of love for the sweet girl.

"I... Don't remember." Lily frowned to herself, trying to remember for the sake of herself rather than others, "it was in Transfiguration the other day I think. Anyways, I know I've been studying a bit excessively, I already decided I would try and tone it down, I've just actually had homework the last few days."

She looked away, and played with her hands. She hadn't decided to tone it down, and was in fact planning on going back after dinner, and finishing off a research task she had given herself.

However, this wasn't a completely lie, as she had thought about it a couple days ago. But then she had seen Masie Davis from Slytherin working through the exact same section of her charms textbook as Lily had been (ahead of time), and her competitive streak kicked in and she began revising charms as much as she could.

"Good," Dorcas said softly, trying not to read into her body language too much, "I worry for you, is all." Lily felt herself beam at the smaller girl, leaning over to give her a gentle squeeze.

"Thanks Dorcas," she looked round at the others, "you guys too. Especially Marlene and Hestia." She giggled, and everyone at the table's face showed some sort of relief. These girls truly were good friends.

She decided there and then she would try and give it a break, just after finishing the work she had already given herself. No need to worry them for no reason.

They quickly began to talk casually again, about nothing and everything, Marlene telling a funny story about someone tripping down the stairs while trying to get into the dungeons. She got up to try and act it out, to the delight of the other girls, who just wanted to watch her make a fool out of herself, when she bumped into Peter who was walking past.

"Sorry!" Marlene flashed her pearly whites at him, and he looked up into her eyes (if he was a typical girly girl, he would have let out a dreamy sigh). Scratch that, he actually did, if you could a weird raspy half gasp sort of thing.

"Ish fine," he munched, and she smiled and stepped to the side so he could go past. He did so, keeping eye contact with her most of the way. His friends trailed behind, for once, and James' eyes caught Lily's so she gave him an awkward smile that was more the corners of her mouth twisting up than anything else.

"Anyways, he completely missed the step!" Marlene called out in delight, "stepped to the side and got his leg trapped in the railing!" Dorcas winced and Mary closed her eyes in secondhand embarrassment, but the rest of the girls were interested, so Marlene continued.

"He got his leg out, and for one second I thought he was going to get up and shrug it off, but then the staircase started moving and he rolled right down the stairs!" She giggled, and the the others followed suit, Alice going above and beyond.

"How hilarious was that!" She laughed louder than everyone else, slapping her knee, and the others at the table who didn't know her began to shrink away. By the end of dinner, the seats in a 2 meter radius had all been vacated, but nobody seemed to notice.

For a while, Lily let herself relax and not worry so much about school and expectations. She felt so much lighter, and laughed more than she had in what felt like years.

The next morning she decided to not go to the library, and instead stay with her dormitory 4-A friends. At breakfast she sat quietly, trying not to think about the revision she wasn't doing, and it mostly worked (due to Alice and Mary screeching about something or other).

She got up, ready to go to potions, and Marlene, Mary and Hestia all got up with her, almost an unsaid agreement. "Do we have potions first thing?" Mary asked, and Marlene confirmed it.

Alice groaned, "that means we have History," Dorcas let her head fall onto the table, just shy of her porridge, and Marlene laughed at their misery.

"Suck it up, sunshines," she laughed again, making fun of them, "have fun learning about the third goblin rebellion for about the 20th time!" Alice shot her a deadly glare, but Hestia just laughed at it.

"We have history of magic?" Sirius called over a couple seats, and the girls stood up a little straighter, especially Mary.

"Yeah," Dorcas called over, faux casually, "there's an essay due in today, I think." The essay was due in for all classes, and Lily had given hers in yesterday, deciding to title it, descriptively, 'Aims of the Goblins in the Third Goblin Revolution.'

It had taken her ages, due to the fact that she did her own research and learnt about the bases they stayed at, and their allies, in order to help her classify the aims. She went above and beyond the assignment, but she knew Binns would be happy with it.

"That was for today?" Sirius asked with a groan, and Alice let out a bark of a laugh, which surprisingly wasn't at his expense.

"My thoughts exactly," she never finished her homework on time, which never failed to annoy Lily, as she always did decently on tests anyways, "but he won't remember anyways, so I'm just going to do it in the lesson."

"Could you do mine too?" He asked with a pleading grin, and Lily turned to him with a disproving frown, which he put his arms up in a mock surrender to. Alice hadn't taken it in a bad way, and laughed before replying.

"Yeah... No chance." She got up, and Dorcas followed. Sirius laughed good-naturedly, and Dorcas bid farewell to the group while she and Alice walked off.

"Guess we should be off aswell," Mary giggled, and Lily nodded with a smile.

"To the dungeons!" Marlene mock commanded, and Mary grinned and gave her a salute.

"Aye aye, captain!" The four girls let out laughs at that, even Lily. They walked together to the dungeons with a happy, light feeling, where Slughorn was waiting.

Potions was always quite fun- Lily and Hestia had paired up at the beginning of the year, and Mary and Marlene had paired up behind them, so they always talked while making their potions. They all did well in their assessments, so Slughorn never bothered them about it.

This day was no different, and they all began to brew a Babbling Beverage (Lily and Hestia both agreed that the name was a bit ridiculous). Lily chopped up the aconite carefully, while Hestia started actually brewing the potion.

"Why was Sirius talking to us?" Mary asked with a slightly dreamy sigh, "it made me nervous."

"Probably because he overheard?" Hestia suggested dully, not one to get swept away by the thought of a cute boy, "not like Marlene wasn't loud enough or anything."

"Oi!" Marlene laughed, knowing everything was being said in good humour, "I wasn't that loud!"

"Sure," Lily chipped in with a small grin.

"Lily gets it," Hestia laughed, and if they had been looking in his direction, they would have seen the twitch of Severus' head when he heard Lily's name.

"He's bad for my health, he is just _so_ good looking," Mary reiterated the girly sigh from before, and the other girls laughed.

"Not that I don't agree, but he's also _so_ much of a troublemaker," Marlene mocked slightly, stirring the cauldron.

"That would be bad for your health," Hestia agreed. Lily nodded in agreement, and then Marry shook her head at the three of them patronisingly.

"You wouldn't get it," she pushed up her glasses in a conceited fashion, "you're just too young." The other three burst out laughing, and most of the heads in the room turned to them.

Lily and Hestia turned forwards to focus on their potion in embarrassment, trying to smother their giggles.

"We're... nearly done," Hestia got out, between the giggles, Lily nodded and checked the book to see what else there was to do, but it was just stirring.

"I'll go get a vial," Lily replied, and made her way to the front of the classroom to pick up a vial from the pile. They were always one of the first pairs to get their work done, so Lily took her time picking out a vial, looking for cracks or stains in them.

She felt a presence behind her, so quickly kept the one in her hand and stepped to the side to let that person get past. They grabbed her arm, not exactly hostile, and she froze slightly, before hearing her old friend's soft voice.

"Do you want to walk to Herbology together?" Severus inquired, and Lily relaxed, nerves washing away. She pulled her arm back, and looked up at him, realising how little she had seen of him this year.

She nodded agreeably, "yeah, that would be nice." He nodded back, and she took that as her cue to walk back to her table she shared with Hestia. The three girls gave her curious looks, and she handed out the vial on the table, next to the cauldron.

"What just happened?" Marlene asked with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle, "did he ask you to a pow-wow behind the greenhouse?"

Lily and Hestia spluttered, and Mary let out a loud laugh, when everyone looked over again, Hestia and Lily turned back to their potion, which was a brick red colour.

They quickly bottled it up, Lily flushing, and Hestia beginning to smile. Hestia poured the liquid into the vial using a ladle, quick and precise, with no shaking or odd movements.

"Hestia," Lily began cautiously, "what's a pow-wow?" Hestia snorted, and smiled even further.

"I'm not sure," she held in any stray giggles, "let's ask _them_." Lily gave her an odd look, and turned to the girls behind them.

"What's a pow-wow?" Lily asked Marlene, and Mary and Marlene began to giggle again, thankfully quieter. The truth was, none of them knew what exactly Marlene was on about, not even Marlene.

But the idea of a pow-wow was just so stupidly funny, that they all couldn't help laughing. It was infectious too, and before she knew it, Lily was smiling. "Guys!" She protested.

"He just asked me to walk to our next lesson together," leaving out that it was, in fact, herbology, and they could, in fact, have a pow-wow behind the greenhouses (whatever that was).

"Aw," Marlene pouted, "that's unsurprisingly mundane." No gossip there, but for that Lily was glad, she just nodded.

"We were expecting some hot gossip, from how he gripped your arm," Mary winked, and Hestia pretended to gag.

"Grow up," Lily groaned, but the smile she was hiding defeated the biting purpose of her words.

By the end of the lesson, Lily was done with their sly jokes, "have fun with Severus, in your greenhouse of _love_!" Were Mary's parting words, and Lily shot her a not so friendly glare.

She then flounced off to where Severus was waiting for her, and smiled gratefully at him. "They're hard to deal with, sometimes." He smiled at her and agreed, like he always did, and she felt herself melt back into the easy relationship they always had.

"What did you think of that essay we got the other week? I did it the other night," Severus was always a perfect student, and Lily often felt herself become competitive with him unconsciously, "it was quite easy, for me. Just listing the uses and writing around that."

"Yeah," Lily agreed, chosing to omit the fact that she also introduced the secondary effects in the conclusion. She was going above and beyond for her grades, "took me a good couple of hours."

"You spend so much time on your studies, Lily!" He was trying to reprimand her, but she could hear the slight admiration in his tone.

She smiled smugly.

 **I don't like calling Snape Severus, it just doesn't sound right! It'll be fixed in the later years, when they fall out, but still!**

 **Tell me what you think! Am I butchering Snape and Lily's friendship? I hope I'm not.**

 **-sunkissedbubbletea**


	3. Studying, studying, and drama

Hour after hour passed in the library, Lily sitting in the same seat on the furthest side, flanked by Hestia and Marlene. School looked bleak for the two of them, and it was hard for it to not infect Lily.

"I swear nothing is going in my brain anymore," Marlene whispered quietly, and Hestia agreed with her.

"It feels like someone's cast a repelling charm on information going into my head," Hestia realised how weird it sounded after she said it, but Marlene just nodded aggressively, "I've read over the same spell three times, and I still can't remember how to do it for the life of me whenever I get into class!"

Lily realised that she could actually relate to that- charms was one of her weaker subjects because she couldn't just automatically rattle off the right answer.

Lily could actually relate to how they were feeling a lot, she had finished all of her assignments and she didn't feel the greed to learn like she usually did. She felt a bit brain dead, actually.

"My brain feels like straw," Lily added to their conversation, and their eyes snapped to her in slight shock. Marlene grinned at her admission.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen!" She exclaimed, and quickly slouched down when she realised she had spoken a bit too loudly for the library.

Hestia laughed, and then followed her up, "I thought you would never admit it, even if you were feeling like that, it's a pride thing." Lily's eyebrows knitted together defensively, and Marlene tried to soften the blow.

"You're just so into your books and studying," she added, "it seems almost compulsive." Lily tried not to feel smug about it- she liked to be smart, and for people to know she put effort into her work.

"I know," Lily sighed, and in a moment of honesty, she explained, "I just feel like I have so much to catch up on- you've both grown up with this, and know all of the quirks of magic already, from making mistakes when you were younger. I can't afford to do that."

Hestia pulled a lock of her hair around her finger as she spoke, and after a moment of hesitation, replied, "you're not just catching up. You're going above and beyond, and honestly it is kind of admirable. I grew up with magic from my dad's side, and I still knew near to nothing when I arrived."

"My parents are both magical, and paid for tutors, so I can't say I understand being clueless about the magical world," Marlene started, "but we all want to learn. We're human, curiosity drives us."

"That's why we work here with you, not just to be your baby sitter," Hestia phrased it weirdly, but Lily understood what she meant. She often wondered why they would sit there with her when they could be doing other things, having fun with the other girls from their dorm instead.

"I like that you guys come here with me," Lily smiled, "it feels a lot less lonely. The last three years I've been doing the same thing, but I've never had friends to sit with."

The two girls looked equal amounts pleased and guilty at her words, "we like you, Lily, you don't need to thank us because we're friends." Hestia coiled her hair tightly around her finger when she said it, feeling oddly embarrassed saying it.

"You're friends with the others too," Marlene tried to remind Lily, "they want to spend time with you, even if they're loud and annoying most of the time." Marlene's kindness was almost an echo of Dorcas, and Lily wondered if Dorcas had asked her to say this.

"We don't just mean at lunch and dinner, or just before we go to bed," Hestia grinned, knowing she was about to use that as an argument in retaliation. "We just want you to be happier. School seems like this place of work and study and nothing fun at all for you, you're _constantly_ working."

"Not asking you to give up or anything, but just stop hiding away in the library, there's only so much more we can take!" Marlene tried to joke it off, and Lily smiled at the slightly lighter topic.

"I'll try to take it easier," Hestia nodded in approval at Lily's words, "I swear I had the same conversation with Dorcas the other week."

"Then listen to us!" Marlene exploded, and instead of becoming defensive again, Lily just laughed. It was nice to have friends who worried about her. "We're all a bit fried here, so I say we should head up to the common room."

"I think," Lily started off softly, slightly worried about how the other two would react, "we should start working in the common room more." This was a big step for Lily, even though it just seemed like a change of scenery.

Marlene agreed mindlessly with a stunning grin, but Hestia seemed to understand the gravity of her statement, and patted her on the shoulder, "sounds good to me."

They collected up their work, and stuffed it into their bags, and then Lily took the book she was currently reading out of the library. They walked past their potions classroom, where they gained two unwitting followers, Peter and Remus.

They then traipsed up the staircase, Hestia complaining about how many books teachers made them carry around because they were on the recommended reading list, but barely needed.

"I mean, we haven't been asked to bring out our own divination textbooks for so long, I actually doubt anything from that book is on the syllabus," Hestia seemed weirdly fired up about it, and Lily found it kind of funny.

"Just do what I do," Remus inserted himself into their conversation, and the three girls looked back at him, "I put mine at the back of the classroom at the start of the year, on top of one of the cupboards, and nobody's noticed."

Lily let out a laugh at that, it seemed like such a stupid idea, but it made sense at the same time. "I can't believe that," Marlene muttered, "It's so stupidly genius."

Remus just smiled knowingly and tapped his nose in response, Hestia laughed, "I think I'll take your advice, then."

"Or you could do what I do, shrink them all and keep them in the bottom of your bag," Lily supplied, and Peter eyed her bag in response.

"They'd still be heavy, wouldn't they?" Hestia inquires, and Lily shook her head.

"Not if you use the right spell," she smiled smugly.

"Why did you never tell me about this before?" Hestia asked, and Lily shrugged.

"You never asked," the others with them laughed, and Hestia cracked a slight smile.

"That's so Lily," Peter stated, "out of curiosity, how many books are in your bag at the moment?"

Lily scratched her chin, "I don't know, I keep most of them on me all the time because it's easier. I think I have three normal sized?"

They all laughed at her, and all Lily could do was sheepishly smile. "As expected of Lily, studying extraordinaire!" Marlene cheered.

"Better than Pete, who brings none of them to lessons," Remus grinned as he recalled a certain incident, "he tried to get through an entire day with just his charms textbook last week, and I swear every teacher took off house points."

"I remember that!" Marlene laughed, and Peter flushed, embarrassed, "you didn't have any equipment in herbology, just your textbook! Which wasn't even the right one!"

"You lost us so many house points," Hestia frowned at him, and Peter tried to look apologetic.

"Remus, you're not mentioning how you guys wouldn't let me back into the dorm after I went into the bathroom," Peter looked embarrassed but self righteous, "they locked me out and told me to go to breakfast!"

Hestia raised an eyebrow at Remus, and he laughed before raising his hands defensively, "I didn't do it! It was James and Sirius, I was just an innocent bystander. I even shouted through the door that I would bring Pete's books, but he had already stormed off."

"How convenient," Lily stated slightly disdainfully, feeling empathy for the shorter boy.

"I apologised! And I agreed to basically do his potions essay for him," Remus argued, "that's why we were in detention."

Marlene laughed, "that's unfortunate for you Peter." Peter looked shocked at being directly addressed.

"Y-yeah," he laughed nervously, "call me Pete, Peter sounds weird and old."

"Alright, Pete." Marlene replied with a giggle, and Lily and Hestia exchanged a glance. Remus could see Peter's eyes widening in adoration, and everyone could tell that a big fat crush was just born.

Lily was just glad they had gotten to the common room, and Hestia shared her feelings. "Nice talking to you two," she smiled kindly at the two, but Lily could tell it wasn't entirely genuine. She was just happy to get away.

Marlene waved, which was more of a flex of her fingers, and Lily internally cursed how perfect she seemed to be. The worst part was that she didn't even notice her effect on the boy! They trekked up to the dorm in silence, Lily lost in thought.

Marlene was what she'd call a dream boat, if she was a boy, and boys actually talked like that. She was all curves and curly hair, and her wide smile came to her so easily it seemed to be permanently attached to her face.

Being honest, Lily was kind of envious of how beautiful she was. It wasn't just how she looked, even though her olive-toned skin was to die for, and her teeth were impossibly white, compared to Lily's paleness and thin lips. She was rich, too, she had found out, and could play the violin like a pro. She never took it for granted, and took every opportunity to learn too.

"Could you be any more flirty!" Hestia berated her as soon as they entered their room, and her face pulled together in an adorably confused look. Lily groaned, that was just another thing which was almost perfect about her.

"I wasn't flirting," Marlene started to protest, before her face formed an 'o' and she slapped her forehead. "I was totally flirting."

"Yeah," Lily laughed at her direct nature, patting her on the shoulder in sympathy. She thought her honest was endearing, and quickly got over that flash of jealousy, like it never happened.

"Alright, Pete! Haha!" Hestia mimicked. She pretended to giggle and put her hand over her chest, the giggles turning high pitched and annoying.

"I meant it in a friendly way!" Marlene tried to defend herself, but the other girls had already honed in on the conversation.

"Sure you did," Alice nodded, "just like you did with Jem, Lucas and Oliver. Just a casual conversation, maybe a little brush of hands, and suddenly they're stalking you in their free periods."

Marlene groaned, and fell back onto her bed. "I've done it again." She admitted, and the room fell into near chaos, except for Lily who was just a bit confused.

Mary fell to the floor with a dramaticised cry of anguish, " _NO_! Not again!" She banged her fists against the wooden floor, not paying attention to the pain it must have caused. Dorcas knelt down next to her and patted her on the back.

Lily could swear she Dorcas was sniffling. Mary looked up and gave her a heartfelt embrace. "It'll be different this time, I swear it." Dorcas said, determined. She sounded like the protagonist of a cheesy superhero film.

Alice had gone over to Marlene on the bed, and pulled her up by the shoulders, shaking her back and forth. "Get it together! We can stop this!" Hestia had fallen silent and looked up to the ceiling for a good minute.

Lily was just left looking between them all in alarm, "surely, Marlene was just being nice?" She asked tentatively, when they all seemed to calm down a bit.

"You don't understand!" Mary shouted, and Lily just blinked. The ferocity of her words had taken her by surprise, and what was even more surprising was Dorcas' grave nodding beside her, a smile not visible on her face for once.

"Calm down guys," Hestia looked down at all of them, the unofficial leader for then. "We are being a bit dramatic, but this is serious for us. It starts off innocent, just like _Pete_ right now."

"Marlene just talks to them a couple of times, and they begin to believe they have a chance with our resident beauty pageant queen," Alice continued, slightly resentfully.

"But Marlene only ever sees them as friends," Dorcas added helpfully, "she just never wants to let them down harshly."

"But that means that she leads them on, and they have no clue what to do next," Alice addressed Lily, "and becuase she doesn't have the _guts_ to let them down, she lets them follow her around until she gets sick of it."

"Which is pretty quickly." Hestia explained, and Marlene looked appropriately guilty.

"They just get annoying," she muttered quietly, "I don't like when people try to talk to me when I'm in the middle of something important, like lunch."

" _Get annoying?_ " Alice almost screamed, " _get annoying_ , is when they bother you to walk to a lesson with them, or insist you lend them your extra quill! Not when they follow your friends into the library and give them a questionare on your likes and dislikes! Or when they bring an entire group of _Slytherins_ onto the _Gryffindor_ table!"

"Oliver and Jem, respectively," Hestia told Lily in a businesslike tone, "Oliver gave Mary the questionare, and, well..." Mary jumped up and gave Hestia a fierce glare.

"Don't you dare." Mary had already began to flush, and Dorcas stood up behind her.

"Oliver didn't explain it, so Mary filled it out with her likes and dislikes," Dorcas explained softly, and Mary whipped back with a betrayed look, "Mary it's honestly not that bad! I would have done the same," she hesitated, "probably."

"I put that her favourite flowers were sunflowers, becuase they're mine," Mary admitted after a moment of silence, trying to calm herself, "but she's allergic."

"It was a pretty big display, actually," Hestia said thoughtfully, "he went up to her with a huge potted sunflower in the middle of the great hall, and Mary looked like she was about to explode."

"They're my _favouite flowers_ ," Mary tried to justify, "I thought they were for me."

"Mary stood up, and Oliver walked straight past to Marlene, and placed it in front of her. Marlene tried to grin and bear it, but as soon as he told her he had liked her since Christmas and nearly finished his speech, she had sneezed far too much, and her eyes were starting to water, so she just ran." Hestia said it all in a somewhat detached tone.

Lily was shocked and confused, how could she have missed that? It sounds like the sort of thing people would be talking about for a while.

"He then kicked off at Mary, telling her she had fed him false information," Dorcas rubbed her back while saying it, and Mary calmed down and gave her a hug, burying her face in the taller girl's neck. "He was awful, he didn't deserve either of you."

"It was embarrassing!" Mary wailed, "I seriously thought he liked me, and he was being cute!"

"He sounds horrible," Lily tried to comfort, and Hestia nodded in righteous agreement.

"He wasn't even cute," Alice mentioned disdainfully, "but ever since we've needed to keep an eye on Marlene's potential love interests, becuase they've always turned out to be bad news."

"I can't disagree," Marlene murmured, "we've found different ways to deal with them every time, but I avoided meals for weeks because of Jem. In the end it was Sirius Black and James Potter who drove _him_ away."

"It was pretty easy in the end, they just took the piss out of him and his friends every time they came asking for Marlene," Alice almost cackled at the memory, "lots of pranks."

"But now it's their friend, Peter," Lily could hear the scheming tone in Hestia's voice, and they all leant in subconsciously, "so, we'll have to do it ourselves."

Lily felt herself nodding determinedly with the other girls. She hardly knew what was going on, and couldn't help feeling that she was out of her depth.

She also couldn't help feeling that she was a part of something, and that made her smile.

 **I need new quantifiers! I keep writing slightly, and kind of, and it's annoying me! The chapters are getting shorter and I really don't want that!/ Hoping to remedy this next chapter!!**

 **-sunkissedbubbletea**


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